1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic systems and more particularly to systems for teaching students how to repair and maintain electronic equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Man has been able to change his environment by inventing and developing various types of machines and equipment. As man's ability to change his environment has increased, the complexity of the machines and equipment used by man increased. Some of the machines and equipment currently used by man are very expensive and/or only one machine or piece of equipment is available at a specific location, i.e., a power plant or power plant simulator. No machine or piece of equipment is one hundred percent reliable, and no machine or piece of equipment is useful unless it works. Thus, all machines and equipment must be repaired and/or undergo periodic preventive maintenance.
Preventive maintenance has been defined as a system of routine inspection and replacement of certain system components. The type of inspection employed depends upon the type of equipment being inspected and the manner in which the equipment is used. The inspection may require proof testing of parts of the equipment or complete testing of the equipment. More specifically, the term "preventive maintenance" applies to systematic maintenance desiged to minimize or forestall further equipment operating problems or failures by making minor or necessary repairs in advance of major operating difficulties.
In order for machines and equipment to remain operational the machines and equipment must be repaired and maintained by people. As the complexity of the equipment increases, the amount of knowledge someone must have to maintain and repair the equipment increases. Equipment is repaired because it is economically more feasible to fix the equipment than to throw it away. People usually learn how to repair and maintain equipment by repairing the actual equipment. While people are learning how to maintain the equipment, The equipment cannot be utilized for the purposes for which it was purchased. Thus, where the operational or cost requirements are such that maximum availability of the equipment is required it is very difficult for students to obtain enough hands-on training on the actual equipment.
One method used by the prior art to teach maintenance training was for an instructor to insert a defective printed circuit (PC) card in an electronic system so that a student may try to find the defective component and fix the system. In the event that the instructor did not have any defective components, he made defective components, by carefully removing printed circuit cards from the electronic system and placing some tape on some of the printed circuit cards contacts before returning the printed circuit cards to their proper location. If the student analyzed the problem correctly the student will only remove defective printed circuit cards, and the instructor would inform the student that he had solved the problem, and should now replace the defective PC card with a good PC card. Some of the disadvantages of the foregoing procedure is that good PC cards may be damaged by being removed or taped. the instructor must watch the student to ensure that the student removes the proper PC card and replaces it correctly. To insure that the system works correctly after the student's training, the instructor must be aware of every defective PC card that was placed in the electronic system.